From fbaf914c8be926c2449d4707c27a2b75e2340b76 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: David Bruno Vontor <bruno.vontor@vitkovice.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2026 16:48:53 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Improve user search, DB nulls, and chat UI
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Change username filter to use icontains for partial/case-insensitive matching. In CustomUser.save, introduce _NULLABLE_CHAR_FIELDS and convert empty string char fields to None to ensure nullable fields are stored consistently. Update CreateChatModal to always show a subtitle combining the user's full name and account creation date (joined with " · "), improving UI information.
---
 backend/account/filters.py                      |  2 +-
 backend/account/models.py                       |  6 ++++++
 .../components/social/chat/CreateChatModal.tsx  | 17 ++++++++++-------
 3 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/backend/account/filters.py b/backend/account/filters.py
index 53f316f..1d26d63 100644
--- a/backend/account/filters.py
+++ b/backend/account/filters.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 User = get_user_model()
 
 class UserFilter(django_filters.FilterSet):
-    username = django_filters.CharFilter(field_name="username", lookup_expr="exact")
+    username = django_filters.CharFilter(field_name="username", lookup_expr="icontains")
     role = django_filters.CharFilter(field_name="role", lookup_expr="exact")
     email = django_filters.CharFilter(field_name="email", lookup_expr="icontains")
     phone_number = django_filters.CharFilter(field_name="phone_number", lookup_expr="icontains")
diff --git a/backend/account/models.py b/backend/account/models.py
index 716be9d..88de28f 100644
--- a/backend/account/models.py
+++ b/backend/account/models.py
@@ -116,7 +116,13 @@ class CustomUser(SoftDeleteModel, AbstractUser):
 
         return super().delete(*args, **kwargs)
     
+    _NULLABLE_CHAR_FIELDS = ('phone_number', 'city', 'street', 'country', 'postal_code', 'email_verification_token')
+
     def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        for field in self._NULLABLE_CHAR_FIELDS:
+            if not getattr(self, field):
+                setattr(self, field, None)
+
         is_new = self._state.adding  # True if object hasn't been saved yet
 
         # Pre-save flags for new users
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/social/chat/CreateChatModal.tsx b/frontend/src/components/social/chat/CreateChatModal.tsx
index 8a2b5df..e62470e 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/social/chat/CreateChatModal.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/social/chat/CreateChatModal.tsx
@@ -292,13 +292,16 @@ export default function CreateChatModal({ open, onClose }: Props) {
                       <div className="text-sm font-medium text-brand-text">
                         {user.username}
                       </div>
-                      {(user.first_name || user.last_name) && (
-                        <div className="truncate text-xs text-brand-text/50">
-                          {[user.first_name, user.last_name]
-                            .filter(Boolean)
-                            .join(" ")}
-                        </div>
-                      )}
+                      <div className="truncate text-xs text-brand-text/50">
+                        {[
+                          [user.first_name, user.last_name].filter(Boolean).join(" "),
+                          user.create_time
+                            ? new Date(user.create_time).toLocaleDateString()
+                            : null,
+                        ]
+                          .filter(Boolean)
+                          .join(" · ")}
+                      </div>
                     </div>
                     {selectedUsers.some((s) => s.id === user.id) && (
                       <FiCheck size={14} className="shrink-0 text-brand-accent" />